When you hear health benefits, the first thing that comes into mind is not good health and wellbeing is it? It’s usually health insurance that helps you through some of those tough health expenses that you get over the year. This is usually followed by a long wait to get the actual claim after filling what seems like an unending flow of forms to get through. It is not a pleasant experience although it has the word benefit attached to it. Healthcare seems one of those areas that didn’t get the memo on technology, and has its processes stuck in a rut of overly complex administrative tasks and rising costs. Although this is about to change, because the future of healthcare insurance is more about health and less about insurance. You don’t have to be Google, Uber or Unilever to be providing what’s best for your employees, just give them what they would prefer over what you think is suitable. Here are a few of those changes you could start with.
It’s all about the experience
Employee experience has taken center stage in the road to the future, and that applies to everything. Including health benefits that have always been an underrated back seat player in the workplace. So instead of having long forms and documents to go through, have a system in place that will make it easier for everyone. A centralised platform can solve your problems and make it easier for the employees get their health insurance through. HRIS software typically comes with a benefits management process, and getting your health benefits integrated and aligned with it is must. People search for convenience and in a tech driven world, everything is required to be easy going and quick without the extra work. According to League, 90% of today’s employees expect a digital experience, and investing on a HRIS system is a start, but making it customised to fit your organisation is the extra step that makes it experience worthy for your employees.
Make it personal
There was once a time that many organisations practiced the ‘One-size-fits-all’ concept at work. Although with the multigenerational workforce growing within the modern work atmosphere, that goes out the door to be turned into ‘one-size-fits-none’ and that is becoming harder and harder for organisations to handle. Health requirements change over time and it is important to know that no two peoples are the same and this is when personalisation comes into the picture. Which is why most organisations have resorted to structuring benefits to fit certain groups of employees, as appose to having your employees customise their health benefits for themselves. Because this can be costly and not every organisation is able to accommodate that. But personalisation to any small or big extent possible is necessary.
Go beyond the norm
Family and work are two of the most important parts of a person’s life and the right balance is what makes each thrive in its own way. Family leave according SHRM is among the top six benefits trends of 2019, and this is one of those things that would need you to break the norm and go beyond. Time for family is important, and family time could mean many different things to many different people. For instance, the baby boomers are moving towards taking care of their older parents, millennials are taking on family life, and Gen Z are moving into forming families. So, family time could mean multiple things to the peoples in the vast mix of your organisation. Adding to that mix, single parents, LGBTQ families, and young growing families makes the process more complex. Although it is hard to add it all together at once, slow starts can be the way to go as we move ahead to the future. Because this becomes a deciding factor for many potential employees, who look at your entire brand anatomy, health benefits and all.
Most of all, it is important to promote ways of maintaining good health. As an organisation, it is as much your responsibility to provide ways to build good health practices as it is to provide benefits. From nutritional workshops, sleep and de-stressing tips, to even mental health awareness comes to play a huge role in an employee’s life. HRIS systems are growing stronger, and incorporating little elements to remind employees about their health and wellness makes it a greater experience. To anyone yet unfamiliar, HRIS stands for Human Resources Information Systems, and with the constant growth and movement of technology these take over the workplace requirements fast, making life easier for everyone. Human Resources Management Solutions can be your start to accommodating the changing benefits dynamics. Little things matter and everyone has to start somewhere.
